Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I rise in favor of the en bloc amendment package, which includes six of my amendments that redirect funds from Biden's bloated bureaucracy to actually help our Nation's veterans.

Our men and women in uniform and our Nation's veterans put everything on the line to defend this great country and our freedoms. They deserve the best care that America has to offer.

Caring for our veterans should be a priority in our annual funding bills. That is why I drafted these amendments that transfer dollars from the Federal bureaucracy to provide additional resources for veterans, including veteran mental health programs, medical and prosthetic research, the Board of Veterans' Appeals to help reduce its backlog and process veterans claims more quickly, gravesites for veterans in areas where a veteran cannot be buried in a VA national cemetery, construction of State extended care facilities, the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program, and veterans telehealth and rural health.

Don't believe the lies on the other side of the aisle. The Republican majority is committed to fully funding our veterans healthcare programs and funding veterans benefits and VA programs.

Earlier this year, they falsely claimed that the Limit, Save, Grow Act would cut veterans benefits, even though it didn't even mention veterans in the bill.

The White House and the leftists falsely tried to claim that this bill cut veterans benefits before it was even released. We didn't even have the text yet.

Let me say this again: This bill fully funds our veterans and even provides an increase of $1.5 billion above the discretionary funding level contained in the fiscal year 2023 bill drafted by Democrats.

The only thing this bill cuts is wasteful spending, and it ensures the Department can no longer be politicized by putting veterans and their needs above a rainbow flag or pronouns.

My support for our servicemembers does not end when their service is complete. I am committed to ensuring that our Nation's most precious resource, its sons and daughters and mothers and fathers who answered the call to serve in uniform receive the essential healthcare and benefits they have earned.

I applaud the committee for taking on this difficult task of prioritizing limited resources for our veterans.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of my amendments, as well as the underlying bill, which fully funds our veterans.

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